[Aileen]

Having got the virtual Madrid Open completed I thought it might be time to open this thread rather than have everything mixed in with the Other Players and Andy Articles threads.  We can include any future virtual tournaments on here too.


To quote the headline to Russell Fuller's article on the BBC Sport website -

"Tennis returns: No fans, line judges, ball kids or handshakes"

There is a minor 8 man exhibition tournament (none of the players is in the top 100) which will be played for real but behind closed doors at a German Tennis Academy and with very strict precautions in place.  It'll be shown on the US's Tennis Channel which will cover all the matches starting Friday 1 May and then on 7 and 14 May.  Other than that I can't find out although it claims that it'll be streamed 'world wide' - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/52496009

Meanwhile Rafa is hoping to stage similar exhibition matches at his academy in Mallorca (dates unknown) - https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-rafa-nadal-academy-considers-030837751.html, while the Ultimate Tennis Showdown is scheduled to begin at the Mouratoglou Academy near Nice on 16 May, provided that the French Government agrees that it's safe to do so - https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/ATP_Tennis/86701/patrick-mouratoglou-and-alex-popyrin-join-forces-to-start-ultimate-tennis-showdown/   I'm not sure that "players involved in the matches will be allowed to express their emotions freely on the court" is a very wise idea though!


I'd love to think that Andy will take part in these two events but, depending on how things go, it's possible that he might not want to travel.  I think though that he and Jamie had an idea about doing something during the grass court season, although whether real or virtual I don't know.

[Aileen]

@MA - Yes, there are two proposed 'live' events, the idea for this one being floated by Tennis Scotland - https://www.scotsman.com/sport/tennis-tournament-featuring-best-young-scottish-talent-could-appeal-murray-brothers-2553171

While Jamie is the brains behind the other one, with Andy's support, which would be held indoors at a location (probably in the London area) and date to be announced, although hopefully to fill the gap left by Wimbledon - https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/tennis/andy-murray-sign-up-behind-closed-doors-all-british-london-tennis-tournament-a4420016.html

PS - Apologies for not doing my homework on these first time round but it was rather late at night!

[Tamaragl]

I seem to have missed the beginning of the exhibition in Germany you referred to, Aileen (thanks for the alert), but this appear to be the Tennis Channel's coverage of it (Tennis "The 2020 (Re)Open: UTR Pro Match Series Round Robin"). It's on from noon to 3 pm EST this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (May 8, 9 and 10). Anyone outside the US who has a VPN on their computer should be able to watch it.

[Aileen]

I seem to have missed the beginning of the exhibition in Germany you referred to, Aileen (thanks for the alert), but this appear to be the Tennis Channel's coverage of it (Tennis "The 2020 (Re)Open: UTR Pro Match Series Round Robin"). It's on from noon to 3 pm EST this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (May 8, 9 and 10). Anyone outside the US who has a VPN on their computer should be able to watch it.

I've installed VPNs a couple of times on my laptop but never had much success with them and also they slowed it down.  Will have another go though and see what happens.

^ Thank you Aileen for the wealth of information on what we can and might be able to expect in tennis to be played.

No problems,  I just thought I'd try to keep the tennis side of things going and get people's minds off the cv for a while.